For many years when employers heard the term “blood sucking parasites” in conjunction with a discussion of workers compensation, they immediately thought of the plaintiff attorneys who encourage employees to exaggerate their worker comp claims. Recently, however, employers have encountered another blood sucking parasite in the workplace — bedbugs.
In the past bedbugs were associated with seedy motels or slovenly housekeeping. Not anymore. Bedbugs have found their way into many types of residential facilities and businesses besides motels/hotels. Office buildings, nursing homes, college dormitories, apartment complexes, hospitals, cruise ships, theaters, clothing stores, factories, airplanes, trains, food plants, department stores, libraries, taxis, furniture rental stores, Laundromats, dry cleaners, bars and restaurants are just some of the locations bedbugs are found. Bedbugs inhabiting your office can be found in file cabinets, break rooms and cubicles, any crevice to hide in when they are not exploring for blood. I have encountered bedbugs in cushions on the TRAIN.
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New York City has become the epicenter of bedbug infestations (Cincinnati and Detroit are not far behind). A high profile workers comp claim involves a Fox News Channel employee in New York who filed a workers compensation claim for bedbug bites allegedly occurring in the newsroom. In addition to the workers comp claim against Fox News, the employee also filed suit against the building owner and the building’s management company.
Bedbugs have only one source of nourishment — blood from people and animals. (If you get bedbugs at home, not only will they chow down on your spouse and kids, they will take a meal from Fluffy or Spot). The bedbug sucks blood from their host by sticking the skin with a small needle-like apparatus, similar to the way a mosquito bites. The bedbug saliva has anesthesia like ingredient so the host has no knowledge of the bedbug bite until hours later. Although many people report they feel like they are being chewed on. Check out the www.bedbugsregistry.com
Once the bedbug’s anesthesia wears off at the bite site, the bite begins to itch. (The bite will also swell in some cases.) The itch has been described as “the skin is on fire” and “itches like crazy.” The good news about bedbugs is their bites are not known to carry diseases, like the bites of ticks or mosquitoes, at least not yet. The bad news is the bites itch for days or even weeks.
Most bedbug bite claims occurring at work are medical only workers comp claims unless the employee has an allergic reaction leading to anaphylactic shock (like a wasp or bee sting in some individuals), or the employee gives into the maddening itch and scratches the bites. When the bites are scratched, scabs can form and the scabs continue to itch. If the bedbug bitten employee continues to scratch the scabs at the bite sites due to the intense itching, they can end up with some expensive dermatology treatments for pockmarks and scarring.
Bedbugs are hitchhikers The normal way an office or other type of business becomes infested is by humans transporting them. The most common scenario is a few bedbugs crawl onto the suitcase of the traveling business person at the motel and settles into a crevice or two.
The suitcase goes home and the bed bugs crawls off the suitcase onto the furniture or bed of their new residence. If the bedbug finds a mate, the two of them will produce about 300 nymphs in 4 months, plus lay about 1,000 additional eggs. The business person noticing the bites but not realizing the home is now infested with bedbugs, attributes the bites to fleas or mosquitoes, thus allowing the bedbug population to continue to explode.
As an employer you understand how the bed bugs infestation got into your employee’s home, but you wonder if they could really get into your place of business. If you’re traveling employee comes to the office with a laptop case, gym bag, lunch bag or purse, the bedbugs then hitchhike from the employee’s home to your office, factory or other type of business.
Again at work, the bedbugs often go unnoticed, as the employees think they are being bitten by a mosquito or a flea. The population of bedbugs at work can quickly become a major infestation.
Bedbugs are small, about a one-fourth of an inch when full grown. They have often been described as looking like an apple seed. That description fits an adult bedbug who after a full meal of blood. (The bedbug will gorge itself when it does eat, expanding to nearly three times its pre-meal width). The bedbug lays eggs which go through five stages of nymphs before reaching adult size. The nymphs are transparent and hard to see until they have had their first meal as an adult.
The adult bedbug can go a year between meals. As their only source of food is the blood of people or animals, most pesticides are ineffective against them, as they have no interest in eating the pesticide like most insects would do. Exterminators can treat for them but the process can be expensive. If your workplace is infested with bedbugs, professional treatment is the way to go. The professional exterminators will often bring in bedbug-sniffing dogs. (No joke – Beagles especially are trained to locate bedbugs).
Failure to address the bedbug problem in the workplace can result in plaintiff attorneys trying to circumvent the exclusive remedy of workers comp, by bringing an employer’s liability claim against your company (Part B of your workers comp policy) alleging intentional acts in failure to eradicate the bedbugs. By alleging an intentional act, the plaintiff attorney can seek big dollars from your company, far exceeding what they can recover on a normal workers comp claim.
Author Rebecca Shafer, JD, President of Amaxx Risks Solutions, Inc. is a national expert in the field of workers compensation. She is a writer, speaker and website publisher. Her expertise is working with employers to reduce workers compensation costs, and her clients include airlines, healthcare, printing/publishing, pharmaceuticals, retail, hospitality and manufacturing. Contact: [email protected].
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Do not use this information without independent verification. All state laws vary. You should consult with your insurance broker or agent about workers comp issues.
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